Robert Kraft will invite Roger Goodell to New England if Patriots win

The Patriots are in their seventh Super Bowl since Belichick became coach in 2000, and Brady can become the first quarterback to win five Super Bowls with a victory against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday in Super Bowl LI.

Said Kraft, “Jealousy and envy are incurable diseases.”GTY 633372068 S SPO FBN USA TX

Before Deflategate, Kraft was considered one of Goodell’s most staunch supporters. Yet with Kraft publicly slamming the league on multiple occasions and the franchise even executing measures such as the establishing a website to refute the science linked to deflating footballs, the rift was apparent.

Goodell, though, maintained during his state of the league press conference on Wednesday that he has moved on from Deflategate – while the prospect of him handing Kraft another Lombardi Trophy looms to cap a season that has been widely described as the “Revenge Tour.”

Kraft insists that he didn’t quickly leave Goodell’s press conference at the George R. Brown Convention Center on Wednesday as a statement, nor to avoid questions from reporters, but merely to hustle to the team’s practice at the nearby University of Houston. The practice began at 1 p.m. local time, which is when Goodell’s press conference began.

Kraft doesn’t disagree that the relationship between him and Goodell has been improving, if for no other reason it’s necessary to have a working relationship with Goodell on many league matters.

“Look, I’m privileged to be the owner of a team in my hometown,” said Kraft, who purchased the Patriots in 1994 and opened the privately-financed Gillette Stadium in 2002.

He’s also chairman of the NFL’s powerful broadcast committee, which paces the negotiations for the massive national TV contracts that formulate the biggest chunks of league revenues that now exceed $14 billion per year.

In weighing his relations with Goodell versus other league issues, Kraft says, “I try to compartmentalize.”

Still, it’s a stretch to think that Kraft’s relationship with Goodell will be as tight as it once was – at least not any time soon.

Goodell doesn’t always attend the Thursday night kickoff games, and during the recent conference title games he opted to go to Atlanta for the NFC Championship Game.

But it sure seems like he’s avoiding Foxborough.

Kraft wants Goodell to come back to Gillette Stadium to improve the optics and hopefully for Patriots fans, mark the occasion of another crown.

Article Appeared @http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/columnist/bell/2017/02/03/super-bowl-51-new-england-patriots-roger-goodell-robert-kraft/97467322/ 

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